Mark your calendars: Meet the Candidates Forum slated

By DAVID LOPEZ
editor@sbnewspaper.com

The San Benito News and the San Benito Chamber of Commerce are hosting a “Meet the Candidates” forum for San Benito Mayor and City Commission next Thursday, February 27 at 6 p.m. at the Lone Star Inn, located at 2340 W. Expressway 83 in San Benito. The purpose of the forum is to inform the public about the candidates running for public office while encouraging citizens to participate in their civic duties.

The event is open to the public and will be running until 7:30 p.m. From 6 to 6:20 p.m., as folks arrive and get situated, attendees will be able to meet and greet the candidates. Light refreshments will be provided.

At 6:30 p.m., the Q&A portion of the forum will begin, first with the candidates for city commission.
Candidates will have one minute to introduce themselves to the audience, where they can include their background and platform. For the questions that follow, candidates will have 45 seconds to answer.

No shouting will be allowed, from candidates or the public, and no applause or other noises will be allowed while candidates are responding.

The candidates for City Mayor will follow the commission candidates.

A single moderator will be asking questions to the candidates. There will be no questions from the audience at the time of the forum. However, we encourage readers and residents to send us their questions ahead of time for our moderator to ask the candidates. Questions can be sent to editor@sbnewspaper.com.

Candidates who have confirmed attendance are (Place 1) Tony Gonzalez, Rene Garcia; (Place 2) Rene Villafranco, Deborah Morales, Daniel Cortez; (Place 3) Steve Rodriguez, Peter Galvan; (Mayor) Rick Guerra, Celeste Sanchez.

Joe F. Rodriguez, who filed for Place 3, has not confirmed his attendance.

Mayor Ben Gomez has neither confirmed nor declined his attendance.

Editor’s note: The print version of this story stated that Rene Garcia had declined and Peter Galvan had not answered requests to attend, but both have since clarified they will be in attendance.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2020/02/21/mark-your-calendars-meet-the-candidates-forum-slated/

4 comments

Skip to comment form

    • Observant on March 1, 2020 at 1:08 pm
    • Reply

    Check this out readers:

    https://www.valleymorningstar.com/2020/02/29/san-benito-candidates-outline-city-challenges/

    Some of these people made good points. I lived in SB for 47 years… When did business or town ever thrive??. The town is boring, eyesore ..just drive around. . See for yourselves.
    WHY WASN’T MAYOR BEN GOMEZ AT THIS MEETING.. .. being absent .. says alot about your concerns for the town.
    Sad and pathetic…

    By the way.. why can’t you report like the VMS….

      • Stable Genius on March 2, 2020 at 2:30 pm
      • Reply

      Ben Gomez did not show up at the last meet the candidates forum when he ran for Mayor the 1st time.
      You hit the nail in the head when you said……….That says alot about his concerns for the town.
      The city conveniently scheduled a census 2020 blockparty at the same time. I heard it had very low turnout.
      It will be his excuse for not attending.
      Sad and pathetic….

    • Lovable Citizen on February 21, 2020 at 3:00 pm
    • Reply

    I for one am not voting for our current Mayor. All the citizens have to do is watch the City Meeting live-steam 2/4/2000 and Judge for yourselves. Your conduct was very unprofessional and lacked Tact and when you speak or make a comment you are representing the commission as a whole. And for you to say I don’t care if people say I am Rude it’s being Truthful is something a Mayor does not do.

      • Open your Eyes!...San Benito! on February 23, 2020 at 5:47 pm
      • Reply

      This town.. just like this country is full of crooks, thieves, corruption.. that includes the city, law enforcement , school district.

      There’s no point to voting.. everything is rigged.

Leave a Reply to Observant Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.